Do you guys always plug in power when your vehicle is at your home?

[azwinne]

Ours is plugged in at home 24/7 unless we are on the road. Earlier this year the place took a lightening strike on my ham radio tower, which is located about 5 feet from the RV front fender. Lightening took out top antenna, rotor controller, one radio, two TVs (one a 60 flat screen) 2 Direct TV boxes, one computer, one modem/gateway, one 16 port switch. a computer flat screen monitor. Maybe some more I am forgetting, but the RV was not affected, plugged into it's 30 amp outlet. Refer is always on and used for overflow. 
Thanks for household insurance. I only paid for $500 deductible.

 

[taoshum]

If you leave it plugged in, the batteries stay charged.  Of course if you drive it frequently, the batteries will stay charged from the engine alternator.  When it is not plugged in, over time measured in weeks, the batteries will slowly discharge due to internal resistance.  Letting them discharge to "zero" will kill many batteries.  In any event, if you unplug it, make sure the inverter is OFF or the batteries will discharge fairly rapidly.

I'm guessing that if it is plugged in, it will pull less than an amp of AC power on average... kinda like a 100W bulb burning 24/7 or 2.5 Kw-hr per day.  If you're paying $0.10/kw-hr, it will cost about $0.25/day or ~~$8/mo.  A set of batteries will cost about $100/each... we leave it plugged in and check the battery water every few months but then we have 6 batteries.  It takes longer to warm up the engine than to unplug and stow the power cable...

 

[lone_star_dsl]

I don't plug mine in at home until 24-ish hours before we are set to leave. With two small kids, it's a little more difficult for us to just bug out at a moments notice.

 

[Old68mustang]

Yeah, I keep mine plugged in but don't turn the appliances on until a day or two before leaving. My charger is a newer model that doesn't overcharge and boil the batteries. One thing is that most MH's will not charge the engine batteries when plugged in. If it sits plugged in for an extended time the engine battery will go down from small draws. There is an add on called Trickle Start that is easy to install. It monitors house and engine batteries when plugged in and if the engine battery drops below the house battery it will recharge it. Most of the newer Diesels from Winnebago are equipped with it. I installed it on my 02 Journey and have not had a dead engine battery since.

 

[azwinne]

Yep, I forgot to mention that I have a battery tender to keep the front battery charged up. I plug it into the closest 120v outlet and feed it by plugging it into the cigarette lighter outlet on the dash to backfeed to the engine battery. You need to assure that that outlet is not cutoff(dead) when the engine is off  as some do.

 

[Dream Chasers]

We live in Central Florida and always keep it plugged in to run the A/C. Doesn't take long for mold and mildew to start taking over. Of course this is easy to do since we have full hook ups.

 

[rcb28]

I'm sure glad I saw this question! Thanks everyone for all your answers!

 

[Merc123]

I have this for my house since getting a surge from a lightning strike to the pole outside the house:  http://amzn.to/2a5qRFs

This should help with most surges but I'm sure using the surge on the line wouldn't hurt also. 

My manual states to not let the battery die because of the breakaway break controller (5th wheel) as it can damage the brakes so I try to leave it plugged in to maintain charge. 

 

[tracyc]

We have our rig at my place of business, and it is constantly plugged in. We can be ready to hit the road within minutes.

How come you always leave yours plugged in while it's sitting at your business. What does always having it plugged in do for you?

 

[tracyc]

Excellent idea!!  This is really more to protect from bad power at campgrounds than at home, but it is cheap insurance!

One reason to keep plugged in is to keep the batteries charged.  If you are not using the rig at work and you are driving it at least weekly, the batteries will stay charged.  No need to plug in.  Now winter may change your strategy!

I plan on using the RV for business least once or more a week. I have to say I'm NOT looking forward to winter. That's the one thing that almost kept me from buying an RV over a box truck was dealing with it during the winter.


I think you meant if I'm using the rig for my business weekly no need to keep plugged in. That is the case so I guess I won't keep plugged in.

 

[tracyc]

x2. We usually plug in our RV but if we do we always use our Progressive Industries Surge Protector.

So is the Progressive Industries Surge Protector goes on the plug? And where did you buy yours? I'm all game for buying something that will protect my products.

 

[tracyc]

You don't have to keep it plugged in but if it sits for too long your batteries will be dead. Being a motorhome even with everything shut off, it should have a carbon monoxide detector. That will eventually drain the batteries. 

We have ours always gassed up, packed and ready to go. Batteries are always fully charged. All we have to do is load the perishable food and unplug.  We even keep jackets, sneakers, boots, clothes and other items loaded.  We can bugout in ten minutes.  We always spent hours getting ready and packing to go camping.  No more.

Ok I see what you mean now about the carbon monoxide detector still running. So I'm assuming you don't leave your fridge on when it's plugged in since your saying you put your perishables when your're ready to go? I'm going to buy a caddy to put my RV perishables in so when I need those for a trip I can just grab the caddy out of my fridge. No need to run the fridge unless your going on a trip right?

 

[tracyc]

We have Full Hookups in our driveway. We don't travel back to Tucson that often, but when we do, we use all the hookups for our RV. While we don't need to keep everything hooked up, we choose to do so. Before we left to live full-time on the road, we always had the RV hooked up as well. We used it as a guest house for friends and family visiting from out of state.

Todd

Todd what do you mean about full hookups? Electrical, Water, and sewage?

 

[tracyc]

Not to get off topic, but we actually had to do this one evening.

A couple of weeks after getting the "newly acquired" motorhome home, it was sitting on the driveway, plugged in. My wife had just started supper, the power went off. So, we just started the generator in the motorhome and finished cooking supper and eating in the MH. Worked out great, power came back on about 2 hrs later.

Wow that's cool! It's like an emergency 2nd house! How much gas got eaten by the generator? I guess it didn't matter since you were able to continue making supper. I'm just curious.

 

[Rene T]

No need to run the fridge unless your going on a trip right?

Just turn it on at least 24 hrs. before you start loading it.

You can buy the surge protector on line. Here's some on Amazon. You just need to decide if you want the portable one or the hardwired one:  https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=progressive+ems&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=80735227404&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=23277624872027279&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_1z30k2vdgp_b

 

[tracyc]

When I had my 1986 motorhome, if it was left plugged in and nothing was being used, the battery would overcharge and boil over.
I got in the habit of leaving the shore power unplugged, but keeping a battery maintainer hooked to the battery.
That habit has carried over to my TT.

We rarely leave on a moments notice, and I will plug it in a day or so before we start loading it for use.

Oh shoot I didn't think about this.

 

[tracyc]

Technology marched on... The newer quality converters should not harm the Batteries.

Oh ok I was worried. I don't want to overcharge things.

 

[Rene T]

Oh shoot I didn't think about this.

You won't have a problem with that. Newer convertors will just run enough to keep your batteries charged unless there's a problem with it.

 

[tracyc]

We are plugged in all the time, but have a Progressive Dynamics 9460 Smart Charger.  Once we get home and unload the fridge, we turn it off and leave it open a bit.

I'm not sure I would want to leave my fridge open a bit since I will be driving it for my business and it would probably be flying open while I was driving but didn't need the fridge running.

 

[Rene T]

I'm not sure I would want to leave my fridge open a bit since I will be driving it for my business and it would probably be flying open while I was driving but didn't need the fridge running.

What they mean is leave it open a bit just so mold will not start growing inside only while you're not travelling. Also, usually there is a latch mechanism built  into the fridge which will keep it open just a bit.